Kunde droht mit Auftrag
by Volker Weber
Have you ever tried to buy IBM Lotus Workplace Messaging? Paul did:
I started by calling four IBM business partners listed in this directory. I called all of them the day before Thanksgiving, leaving a detailed message explaining what I wanted. I got two return calls within two weeks, both of which wanted to know how many licenses of Domino I wanted. After I explained, both promised to get back to me within a day or two; neither did. So, I used the "call me" button on IBM's site and got a call the next day from a gentleman who wanted to explain why Workplace was the best thing since toothpaste in a tube. Once he understood that all I wanted was to buy it, he promised to connect me with a sales rep. Two weeks later, and after an email to a rep who had previously sent me a price quote for other software, I got a call. ... The rep quoted me a per-CAL price for Workplace Messaging ($14.50, 50% off the normal price), Workplace Documents, and Workplace Team Collaboration (I don't remember their license costs offhand). She also quoted me a price of $24/seat for Workplace Rich Client. This was a substantial discount off the $129/seat list price, so I was excited... right up until my rep emailed me, after I'd already bought the server licenses, to say that her pricer had "denied" that special price and that I'd have to pay list. Oh well.
He keeps throwing money at IBM ...
Comments
I've posted some response comments.
If he is a consultant who wants to evaluate IBM software, one typical route for that is joining PartnerWorld (for developers or software), which in and of itself is free.
Is that why IBM has tens of thousands of Business Partners? :-)
wow!
hmmm ... reminds me of one of my favorite stories ;-)
that's not my job
merry christmas!
Well, yes, this is how IBM has lots of business partners. But I don't think you hear IBM generally brag about number of partners anymore -- perhaps number of advanced or premium partners.
3 days old:
IBM Pressemitteilung SWG/353/2004IBM feiert fünfjährige Partnerschaft mit ISVsDie IBM feiert diesen Monat fünfjähriges Jubiläum ihrer erfolgreichen Zusammenarbeit mit Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). Das von IBM bereits 1995 im Anwendungsbereich geknüpfte Partnernetz umfasst heute weltweit mehr als 100.000 Partner, darunter 60.000 ISVs.
You must have it in english, but I can't look it up from here.
